Gordon Murray on Bugatti Veyron

[ON325i]

I like to share this because there were a couple of Veyron posts in the Media sections and it contains pure technical analysis rather than fan-based biased comments. Enjoy!

Gordon Murray on Bugatti Veyron - R&T


Just read an interesting article in R&T by contributing writer Gordon Murray, the creator of McLaren F1, about the technical analysis of Bugatti Veyron. I would like to share with you:

"The chassis/body structure is hybrid like the last Bugatti (EB110) with carbon fiber used for the primary structure and aluminum alloy for the body and front crash structure. In this respect, the all-carbon McLaren F1 and the RTM (Resin Transfer Molding) carbon Mercedes-Benz SLR McLaren are, in fact, more advanced."

"Weight saving should be by design and not a post process. Weight is the car designer's biggest enemy."

"The restrictions on styling and innovations are apparent in the Veyron — the all-wheel drive and power targets must have made the designer's life a nightmare. Although the Bugatti is quite short, it is very wide and suffers from most of the rear mid-engine problems, such as high cowl height, pedal offsets, no luggage space and poor three-quarter rear view."

"To be absolutely fair, the Veyron team did not set out to challenge the McLaren F1, Enzo or Porsche GT as the ultimate driving machine. This it certainly doesn't do at two tons with turbo lag. It also falls short of the Ferrari 612 Scaglietti and the Mercedes SLR McLaren for high-performance touring because of the outward vision problems and lack of luggage space. Where it absolutely succeeds is as a massive technical achievement — a statement for VW AG. And it will be guaranteed a place in automotive history because of the performance figures."

"The Veyron's design team must be applauded because the starting point was so wrong. Arbitrary targets of 1000 hp and 250 mph and 0-60-mph in under 3 seconds were set at the very beginning of the program. But worse still, a styling model was shown and accepted! This is a bad starting point for any car, but for a high-performance car, it's a disaster."

"One final point is that I have always felt a little responsible for starting this lunatic chase for top speed with the McLaren F1 (even though top speed was never one of our targets!), and the Bugatti Veyron should put an end to this nonsense and let the designers get on with the job of designing good fun, efficient sports cars."

For full article you may read R&T: http://www.roadandtrack.com/article....rticle_id=3075

This post itself is copied from Autozine.org:
http://www.autozine.org/0_News/Archi...ews_frame.html

[DTM]

I read the article. His writing almost seems to deem the bugatti, dare I say it, "impractical"?

He complains about luggage space, when we are talking about supercars here. As though somebody would take a Bugatti to go camping?

" have a "real-world" checklist when designing road cars: 1) size or perceived size; is the car intimidating to drive? 2) ergonomics; primary and secondary controls, pedals; 3) luggage capacity, cabin storage; 4) driveability, slow traffic engine characteristics, overtaking; 5) ride and handling; 6) ease of parking."
-- Gordon Murray

Ease of parking? luggage capacity? Cabin storage? Do you get your groceries in such a car??????

"With the F1, we set out to design the best driver's car we could, and by being innovative with componentry placement, we squeezed three occupants, a V-12, 90 liters of fuel and good luggage space into a car the same size as a Porsche Cayman."

It's good design, but it doesn't matter in this type of car.

"On paper, its nearest relative by specification is its brother, the Bugatti EB110 — multi-cylinder turbo engine, hybrid construction, awd and impractical on the road."

Again the practicality talk.

Anybody who pays this kind of money for a car can surely afford to buy another one for getting his groceries. Do people that rich even have to carry luggage?

[Robin_NL]

Gordon Murray IS GOD

Just like Peter Wheeler was a few years ago